One of the Blacks
by Linxcat
Summary: By denying her daughter Nymphadora the one thing she always wanted, a marriage to the man she loves, Andromeda has turned into the thing she'd been running from all these years.... Her mother


There was a crash and a yell as someone rolled out of the fireplace. Green smoke billowed into the room, mixed with a lot of soot.

Ted and Andromeda Tonks immediately jumped to their feet. Much coughing and exclaiming ensued for a few moments before a human figure could be made out through the madness.

"Show yourself!" Ted snapped warily, wand pointing at the silhouette in the smoke.

"Its-_cough_-it's me, Merlin, I knew I used too much floo powder...It's me, Tonks, who you decided to dump on the disgusting name Nymphadora. First words were 'bloody hell'."

"It's her." Ted sighed, relieved, as his wife flung her arms around their daughter.

"Nymph-" Andromeda stopped as the girl glared, "Dora! Darling, love, are you alright? I heard about everything, are you ok?"

"I'm fine mum," she brushed away the concerned arms, then she grinned, "And I've got great news!"

"Makes a nice change." Ted said, smiling, and gesturing for her to sit beside him on the sofa.

She took a deep breath, beamed at both of her parents, before, "Don't freak out, ok?"

"For heaven's sake, Dora!" Andromeda groaned, "Put us out of our misery!"

"Ok, ok," she giggled, "I'm getting married!"

There was a stunned silence, before she laughed again. "Isn't it great? The wedding's in two days, I hope you guys can come."

Ted was the first to regain his speech, swallowing.

"Dora, darling, you- who exactly are you marrying?"

"Oh!" her eyes widened, "Sorry, I thought- Merlin, I'm just so excited, I just- it's Remus, you remember, Mum, you met him at an Order meeting."

"Merlin's beard! _Remus Lupin_?"

"I love him, mum, and he loves me. So we're going to get married." Her gaze moved between her mother and father, excitement and joy from earlier draining out of her as she saw their expressions.

Andromeda was wringing her hands, "Sweetheart...you do know he's a...?"

"Werewolf?" her eyes narrowed, "Yes. Of course."

"Then why-" Andromeda quickly halted herself mid-sentence, but she'd gone too far. Dora knew exactly what she'd planned to say. Her hair spiked up angrily.

"How DARE you?!" she roared, fists balling. "How dare you-"

"I'm sorry, Dora, darling, I didn't mean-"

"You're _judging_ him before you even know him – you're no better than those prats at the ministry!"

Andromeda's face hardened. She abandoned her attempts to calm down her daughter and readied herself for an argument.

"Did you THINK before you accepted? Did you think about it at all? No! You just rushed in, like you always do, head first!"

"I had a whole YEAR to think, mum, do you not REMEMBER?"

"I do remember – you spent a year MOPING. Have you not considered that he might have been right – that perhaps you're better off without him?"

"He's come round now! He knows he was stupid and how much he hurt me!"

"But think about the future – if you have children, they will be werewolves too!"

"Then they'll be werewolves with parents who love them."

Ted's gaze followed the two angry women as if he were watching a muggle tennis match. Then, at the same moment, they both turned and glared at him.

"What do you think?"

"Ted, talk her out of it!" Andromeda's eyes were hard and blazing, but behind the anger was a look of deep concern.

"Please, dad." Dora's gaze was beseeching, heartbreaking, "You _know_ this is what I want..."

Ted took a long look at both of them, before sighing and holding up his hands in surrender.

"'Dromeda, love, we can't forbid her from marrying the man she loves." He paused, turning to his daughter, "If it'll make you happy, Dora, I give you my blessing."

"Thank you!" Dora exclaimed, throwing her arms around his neck and hugging him tightly.

Andromeda's face coloured, "_Ted_! Nymphadora Tonks, this discussion is not over!"

She grabbed her daughter by the arm, but Tonks snatched it away.

"I'm not seven years old anymore mum! You can't tell me what to do!"

"You may not be seven, but you're still my daughter! You _cannot_ marry someone who could slaughter you in your bed once a month!"

"Wolfsbane!" Tonks reminded her, fists balled and teeth bared.

"He has no money! You'll starve!" Andromeda shot back.

"I have a job!"

"Not for much longer with this war going on!"

"Then we'll be no better off than everyone else!"

The two of them paused, nose to nose, chests heaving from shouting.

"You. Cannot. Marry. Him." Andromeda snarled.

"Dad, tell her-"

But as the two of them turned around, Ted Tonks was nowhere to be seen.

"You cannot and will not marry him." Andromeda repeated, voice low and dangerous.

"You can't control me anymore, mum," Tonks pointed an accusing finger at her mother, "Give me one good reason why we shouldn't just elope tomorrow."

Andromeda gazed at her daughter, hoping desperately that she'd understand. "I-I can't let you."

"_What_?"

"It's for you own sake, Dora! I don't want to see you get hurt!"

"Mum, being without him hurts me. You _know_ that."

"I can't let you."

"I've had enough. I'm going right now, back to Remus, and we're going to finish planning our wedding." she turned and walked towards the fireplace with an air of what she hoped looked like indifference.

"Dora..."

"The wedding's in two days. You can come if you want." She turned back, apathetic mask ruined by the tears sparkling in her eyes. She'd been so excited about telling them and now...it was all ruined!

"Dora, love...I-I can't let you do this. I can't let you ruin your life." Andromeda touched her shoulder. Tonks shrugged it off, brushing her eyes with the back of hand.

"Don't worry, if dad doesn't come, I can always get Kingsley or Mad-Eye to take me down the aisle."

She approached the fireplace.

"Dora...Dora, come back here." Andromeda folded her arms.

"I'll send some pictures-" she reached up for the floo powder.

"Dora, don't you dare! Get back here!"

It was as if a huge bucket of anger was poured back into the room, saturating everyone through the pores. Tonks turned back to her mother, the green powder pinched between her fingers, one eyebrow – slowly turning 'Weasley red' from fuchsia – arched.

"You cannot marry him."

"Why?" Tonks hissed, "Give me one good reason!"

"Because," Andromeda gulped, "Because I forbid you to."

The air in the room, which had previously been hot and fiery with anger, solidified like ice.

"_What_?"

"I forbid you to." Andromeda's voice was stronger now, more firm, "I am your mother and I forbid you to marry a werewolf!"

There was a stunned silence, before.

"Well done, mother, you've officially become a Black. You bleeding_ hypocrite_!"

"Don't you talk to me like that!"

"I'm twenty-four, mother, I can make my own decisions and I'll talk to you how I like! You ran away from home, defied your parents, your sisters and your whole freaking _family tree_ for the man you loved, and now you're _forbidding_ me to marry Remus?! You had a hard time with your marriage, and now you feel like dishing it out on me!"

Andromeda's eyes were wide, face pale, fists clenched, and as she stared at her daughter she remembered arguments in the drawing room, her mother screaming at her, her sisters begging her not to go...

Dora was glaring back at her, red hair spiked up with orange tips – it looked like her whole head was on fire, and that was probably how she felt. She could see so much of herself in those bright blue eyes, which meant...

_Sweet Merlin, I've turned into my mother!_

"No! That's- that's not-"

"You always told me you were different. You talked of your pureblood-manic family with scorn, laughed about how you had defied their marriage laws – and now this?"

Dora opened her palm and the powder trickled out into the fire, instantly turning the flames green. They lit up her face, making her look like something out of the Grinch.

"I thought you were strong. But you're not. You're a hypocrite. And worst of all, you're just like them."

The moment her daughter disappeared into the fire, Andromeda crumpled to the ground, shaking with sobs.

She'd turned into the one thing she'd been running from all of her life.

She was one of the Blacks.


End file.
